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In my experience, people in very small towns (under 500 people) are very nosy and feel entitled to know everything about you. There is also tons of gossip and people who don't have anything better to do than obsess over the lives of other people in town.
I love the anonymity of cities and suburban areas. When I go out to eat at a restaurant or go shopping for groceries, I really enjoy being left alone and not asked at least half a dozen personal questions by someone "just being friendly." I can just eat or shop in peace and not have to listen to someone blathering on about whatever.
I've heard the argument made that people in a small town will help you out if you need them, such as if your car is broken down on the side of the road or whatever. Well, I have roadside assistance service for that.
I'm a very private and introverted person, and small town living is something that I've never found desirable.
So what prompted you to start a thread full of complaints against small towns.
I could easily match your cynicism in my reply but I will simply say —- ain’t it great that we are all free to live in whatever environment is most suitable to our psyche.
You stay on your city sidewalks, I will stay on my one lane Deliverance road and hopefully never shall we meet.
So what prompted you to start a thread full of complaints against small towns.
I could easily match your cynicism in my reply but I will simply say —- ain’t it great that we are all free to live in whatever environment is most suitable to our psyche.
You stay on your city sidewalks, I will stay on my one lane Deliverance road and hopefully never shall we meet.
I am sure this is a historic norm. Going back to ancient Egypt, small towns have always been very "tight", everybody knows everybody and therefore knows everything going on with everybody. This hasn't changed in 10 thousand years. It will never change. It is human nature.
In my experience, people in very small towns (under 500 people) are very nosy and feel entitled to know everything about you. There is also tons of gossip and people who don't have anything better to do than obsess over the lives of other people in town.
I love the anonymity of cities and suburban areas. When I go out to eat at a restaurant or go shopping for groceries, I really enjoy being left alone and not asked at least half a dozen personal questions by someone "just being friendly." I can just eat or shop in peace and not have to listen to someone blathering on about whatever.
I've heard the argument made that people in a small town will help you out if you need them, such as if your car is broken down on the side of the road or whatever. Well, I have roadside assistance service for that.
I'm a very private and introverted person, and small town living is something that I've never found desirable.
If it really bothers you that much just start telling people when they start talking to you how educated you are, how you could buy and sell anyone in town, what you don't like about the town and what has to change to make you happier and how things were done back in you city/suburb. You can maybe throw in how inbred everyone seems.
They'll get the hint and you'll have all the privacy you desire in fairly short order.
Let me tell you, they are everywhere, in bigger places people peep behind curtains, look thru the door viewer, and now that so many have cameras in front they watch that live instead of the TV....
They know who's cheating and with whom, they wonder about other peoples lives for no reason and so forth and so on .. . . . . it will never end...It's like the Cycle of Life . . .
While Sally is pouring coffee for you at the little cafe, you could mention "I don't know a polite way to put this, Sally, but as I have gotten to know the townspeople better, I must say that it has become obvious to me that many, if not most of the people in this town have parents who are probably each other's siblings. Are your parents related to each other, Sally?"
Then Sally would scream at you to leave and never enter her cafe again. Then word would spread pretty quickly and you would be shunned.
In my experience, people in very small towns (under 500 people) are very nosy and feel entitled to know everything about you. There is also tons of gossip and people who don't have anything better to do than obsess over the lives of other people in town.
I love the anonymity of cities and suburban areas. When I go out to eat at a restaurant or go shopping for groceries, I really enjoy being left alone and not asked at least half a dozen personal questions by someone "just being friendly." I can just eat or shop in peace and not have to listen to someone blathering on about whatever.
I've heard the argument made that people in a small town will help you out if you need them, such as if your car is broken down on the side of the road or whatever. Well, I have roadside assistance service for that.
I'm a very private and introverted person, and small town living is something that I've never found desirable.
Doesn't sound like the small towns will miss you.
I live in a small town and no one asks me questions when I eat out.
Roadside service will take hours to get to you here, but a neighbor could be there in 5 minutes to help you or whatever.
Plenty of private and introverted people live in small towns. You think everyone is a social butterfly?
Got to say, that is what I LIKE about small towns. Or at least, farm towns.
Right now, the fact that everyone knew what happened to my barn that night, before breakfast the next day, makes me cry with gratitude. Because they CARED.
You can have your city anonymity and pay for everything you need with money, be my guest.
Also, I'm not bowing to anyone when it comes to being private and introverted, either.
I live in a small town and no one asks me questions when I eat out.
Roadside service will take hours to get to you here, but a neighbor could be there in 5 minutes to help you or whatever.
Plenty of private and introverted people live in small towns. You think everyone is a social butterfly?
Exactly. I was raised in a small, rural town by parents who were very active in the community. Sure, when I stop by the local doughnut shop, they'll ask about my folks (or just my mom these days now that dad is gone), but it's certainly not blathering by any means. Just a quick, "how's the city/career treating you?" or "how's your mom doing? then I'm on my way.
That same community came together when my dad died and made sure that the road heading to my folks' place was clear as he died during a really bad stretch of winter weather. That community still looks out for my mom (and she, for them), for which she, I, and my siblings are grateful. (Did I mention that I'm an introvert as are my siblings?)
No amount of paid help could replace what that community gave me when I was growing up. Sure there's a price to be paid when there are eyes watching out, but there's also a huge amount of security in it, too--especially for children. Easy to give kids their freedom when you know that others are watching out for them as you do for theirs.
What I can tell you as a person who has had a foot in both worlds, so to speak, is that for the most part while people in a small town might know a fair bit of your business, most don't care to nose too deeply into it (if at all).
The same applies here in my mid-sized city neighborhood. People are definitely aware of their neighbor's comings and goings, but one's business is largely one's own. On my street, we neighbors definitely are aware of what's what and quietly look out for one other. When someone bends my ear for a bit too long (*cough* the guy across the street from me), I simply excuse myself and head to the back yard. *grins*
Last edited by Formerly Known As Twenty; 08-07-2021 at 09:15 PM..
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